Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women’s Syracuse University chapter will close on May 8, 2013.

The decision comes after the SU chapter, also known as the New York Alpha chapter, faced several recruitment challenges during the last few years and, after working closely with Pi Beta Phi national leadership, was unable to build membership.

“This is a very emotional time for the current members and alumnae of our New York Alpha Chapter,” Pi Beta Phi Grand President Mary Tatum said in a press release.

Members voted to relinquish their charter at a recent chapter meeting. The fraternity’s Grand Council voted at its October meeting to allow the chapter to continue to operate until the end of the school year, said Eily Cummings, marketing and communications director at Pi Beta Phi’s headquarters.

After the spring 2013 semester, non-graduating collegians will be granted alumna status, said Eddie Banks-Crosson, SU’s director of fraternity and sorority affairs.

“The women of the New York Alpha Chapter are an amazing group of young women and we as a fraternity and sorority community will still continue to support them,” he said in email.

It was a tough, courageous decision for the New York Alpha members to close the chapter, Tatum said. She said she encourages all SU members to continue their “life-long sisterhood as alumnae outside of their chapter setting.”

The chapter was founded in 1896, 26 years after SU’s founding, and is one of the longest-running sororities on campus.

Current SU chapter president Alyssa Goldfarb said the sisterhood of the girls will continue long after they cease to be an active chapter.

“These girls are my best friends and are the ones who will be right by my side during the rest of my life,” she said. “These girls are the ones who will be there watching at my wedding.”

She added that lifelong commitment and sincere friendship are two of the core values for Pi Beta Phis. Current Pi Beta Phi members will continue to be supportive of other chapters on campus, as well as their philanthropies.

SU Pi Beta Phi 1984 alumna Tracy Gensler said she was saddened to hear of Pi Beta Phi’s closing, and said it would be especially difficult for her to go back to campus and not be able to visit her old sorority house.

Pi Beta Phi’s Grand Council sent letters to SU alumnae informing them of different events happening on campus, she said. In the letters, Gensler was informed that the Grand Council, alumnae and chapter had been taking all possible steps to prevent closure.

“I respect the efforts of all involved,” she said.

She said she would never forget her memories as a Pi Beta Phi, specifically one of sitting on the porch with her sisters and watching the festival and live band each spring in front of E.S. Bird Library. Gensler said she loved being on the corner of Marshall Street too, so that she was close to the stores and restaurants.

The chapter was originally founded as the Philokalian Society, with the sole intention of obtaining a Pi Beta Phi charter. During its first two years, the chapter met in rooms in the Hall of Languages, and then, in 1897, moved into a three-story house on Comstock Avenue, according to an April 22 Fran Becque article.

Over the last century, the chapter moved locations, going from Irving to Ostrom to Euclid avenues before settling into its current home on Walnut Place in 1939.

It remains unknown whether recolonization of the chapter is a possibility for the future, but for now, current members will relish the time they’ve had as an active chapter.

Said Goldfarb: “We have had many amazing memories and have enjoyed our time at Syracuse University.”

Published on November 1, 2012 at 2:03 am

Contact Marwa: meltagou@syr.edu | @marwaeltagouri